Off to Save the World Again
by sanctum-c
Summary: After returning to life, Aeris tries to find her place in the world again.


The floorboards seemed to smack into her boots as if she had dropped from a great height. There was gravity again; her memories of just how it worked had been blunted after two years without it. Standing seemed to be a more complex and involved process than she had ever given it credit for. Her arms were limp and her knees bent no matter how much she tried to keep her legs straight. She dropped. Her head was too heavy; her neck felt far too thin to support it. This was increasingly seeming like a bad idea. Wait. Some muscle memory seemed to kick in. Her body responded, trying to keep itself in one piece. The backs of her thighs, ankles and knees burned as her body tensed. She rocked back on her heels, balance just about there as her knuckles brushed the floor. With effort she dragged her hands up to her lap. Other senses now intruded - a sensory rush of information bordering on the overwhelming. More focused and direct than sensation in the Lifestream, but also less controllable, so much more intense.

Her feet tipped her forward a little more so she stabilized into a crouch. She stared at a lone flower growing up between the floorboards. Two children stared at her in wonderment and her lips curled into a smile without conscious thought. As if the sensation of being here was not enough; others could see her. She was a presence here. People cheered close by and snatches of conversation floated in the air. Familiar voices. Her heart leapt. Patience. She would get to them in a moment. How would they respond to this? She took a moment to ensure control of the body - her body - and prepare for the strain. Okay.

Her muscles ached as she pushed herself upwards, but this time they held. This was exhausting. How had she ever walked, run, danced and made love? Everything required effort - an effort she never remembered being this bad. No. No, it was beginning to pass. Her neck felt stronger, her head now supported. Her arms were no longer limp, useless appendages. Her chest burned. Breathing was vital she remembered with almost a laugh. The first breath was ice cold and the inhalation chilled her lungs. The buzzing in her head dissipated, the cold diminishing as she drew in another breath. What if everything she once took for granted now needed to directed and controlled? Could she trust herself to keep breathing? To eat without choking? Too late now if not. A movement nearby. Zack leant in the church doorway, smiling. This was going to be a wrench. It had been troublesome enough for one. Two had been a struggle. Three was beyond her remit, and it had been made very clear that her presence was not optional.

Zack understood. At least that was how she interpreted the nod as he looked past her and smiled. He faded into brightness, leaving her to face this next challenge all by herself. Okay. She could do this. Cloud stared at her. Aeris Gainsborough smiled and waved. Cloud blinked, wading a step closer. Avalanche stared down at him, none of them thinking to follow his gaze just yet. Something caught Nanaki's attention, his eye widening as he turned in the same moment Cloud spoke. "Aeris."

"Hi," she replied, her throat dry, the words awkward. It still got their attention. Some reacted quicker than others; Tifa whirled on the spot and clapped both hands over her mouth. Cid swore, Vincent merely nodded, his collar hiding most of his reaction. Yuffie gaped and Marlene ran towards Aeris. Nanaki cocked his head to one side as Cait Sith went limp on the ground, Reeve's stuttering voice emanating from inside. Cloud kept staring, Denzel alongside him as Tifa took a few halting steps forward. Barret trailed after his daughter. Yuffie overcame the shock after a moment and ran to her along with Tifa. There was the shock of contact, the warmth of other people as Yuffie, Marlene and Tifa threw her arms around her. Aeris closed her eyes and surrendered to the moment, the sensations. Other people. Other physical presences. So this was what it had been like before. Something she had not realized she missed so much until now.

A babble of questions followed, though Tifa was quick to dismiss them; she insisted Aeris needed time to relax first. The Cetra certainly had no complaints about the difficult questions being postponed. Cid voiced a suggestion; retreat to the Seventh Heaven for a celebration. At least the others should - he had to get to Rocket Town as quickly as possible. Yuffie was muttering about revolving doors in the Lifestream and maybe hiring a bouncer as they all filed out of the church. Aeris's legs tired in minutes; still a lot to get used to again. She used to walk so far; there had be no choice but to go by foot when she first left the city.

Avalanche held a quick meeting on the subject. Cloud's bike was somewhere on the upper plate; after his fight and Sephiroth's actions it was not clear what kind of state it would be in or how safe it was to go up there right now. The Shera was on the ground outside the city; though understandably Cid did not want to waste any time in getting to Rocket Town. Barret sighed and rumbled an alternate suggestion. Aeris assented and curled into his arms as he carried her near effortlessly. Edge denizens surrounded Avalanche as they walked back through the sector and Aeris Gainsborough left Midgar for the second time in her life. Cid broke away to board his airship insisting he would join celebration with Shera later on. Avalanche drew little attention as they walked home. Maybe one or two people double took as they caught a glimpse of her; it was always possible they had once bought one of her flowers?

Not far now - then she would be able to sit down. As comfortable as Barret's arms were, as warm as his chest was, she wanted to be able to move on her own again. No. She needed to move on her own again, be free to move where she wanted. It was different seeing the world like this. No part of Edge, no part of her two year older friends was unknown to her, but there was something more solid about seeing them like this, observing the world first-hand. Edge towered up around her, grey concrete buildings, grey concrete underfoot. It remained disappointing; even Midgar had more colour at its peak. But then, this was the start of the new world; they needed time.

She snuck glimpses at all her companions as they chatted to her, each tip-toeing around certain subjects like how she was back and why. The answer was going to disappoint them; the Planet wanted an interface and there was no other easy or quick one way to produce one. That would become her goal later; though at least there were many methods to give rise to the Cetra once more. And not the one most would leap to. Conception was inevitably an option, but to hear the Planet was something teachable; her preferred option. Aeris shook her head. For now, it was enough to live and become used to three dimensions and movement. Everything else could wait.

Their group swept into the bar, Aeris installed at a table as the rest of Avalanche clustered around and Tifa began serving drinks. So much to talk about and at the same time, nothing to say. It would be hard to compress the two years of dwelling in the Lifestream into something they could grasp or appreciate. Measuring time duration was difficult, focusing on one action had been nigh on impossible with her consciousness distributed around the world. The conversations were awkward at first; there was little she did not know in some form, always aware of their actions in the back of her mind. Her friends were forever just on the edge of her attention. She just let them speak after a while, soon preferring their first-hand accounts even though they varied in a multitude of ways from the version she remembered. She smiled when Cloud made excuses to leave her with the others to talk to Tifa at the bar. The couple were now comfortable around each other in a way she had not seen before.

Vincent remained somewhat distant, and was the first to leave the impromptu party, though not long after Denzel and Marlene began dozing off. Barret and Cloud saw to their ward's respective bedtime's as Nanaki elicited a promise to at least try and discuss her time in the Lifestream at some stage. Reeve interrupted Cait's chatter every now and again, promising to come by and visit. Of them all he had never met Aeris in person though she was well aware of the puppeteer's actions.

Cid rang some hours later, only now realizing just how long the flight to and from Midgar was and demanded a new gathering the next day. The rest of Avalanche agreed. Time passed, and the alcohol made each a little more drowsy. Just before midnight Tifa returned from upstairs and mentioned she had put another spare bed in Cloud's office. If Aeris was tired she would help her upstairs. Aeris waved her away, insisting she would be fine as Yuffie succumbed to exhaustion beside her and Nanaki curled somewhere near her feet. There was a whispered discussion between Cloud and Tifa at the bar, one that lead them to heading to bed together. Aeris grinned, though it did not last long as the necessity of sleep became unavoidable.

She did not want to go to sleep. Sleeping felt hazardous; letting go of what had taken such long moments to be used to, to control once again. What would sleep do to her? There was even a chance the Planet could snatch her back, the plan changed and re-thought; no Cetra needed on the surface. She needed to experience everything she could before she even dare risk sleep. But it had been a tiring day even before the Planet called her back into existence; she would succumb eventually. Aeris glanced around the Seventh Heaven. Barret was the only one still awake.

"Thank you again for before," said Aeris, keeping her voice low, conscious of their sleeping companions; both those in the bar and upstairs.

"'s no problem at all. Still amazed you came back," he said.

"Sephiroth managed it. And Cloud..." She trailed off at Barret's concerned expression. "Why else do you think you found him in the church? I needed to do something," Aeris said with a smile.

"Yeah..." he said. "But I kinda figured they were special cases," Barret added.

"In some ways," she agreed. "Cloud was a very special favor. Sephiroth cheated. Me? Well, you heard why."

"But why'd it take so long? Why not after Meteor?"

"Sephiroth, essentially. To neutralize him in the Lifestream; that took a lot of work. I'd have come back sooner. If I could." Her smile faded a little. "It might have helped Cloud some."

"Don't think like that. You saved the world. Twice."

Aeris looked at him in surprise. "I… didn't really."

"No need to be humble. We all know you're the one that destroyed Meteor. And while Cloud got to have a flashy fight with his nemesis, who's the one who made it rain?" Barret said, his face breaking into a grin. "Who made that water in the church?"

Aeris could not help the smile his expression elicited. "I still prefer to think of it as a team effort; I did my part - Cloud did his. So did you and everyone else; he needed you all."

"There is that," he admitted.

Aeris smiled and yawned. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Big day," Barret said.

"Mm-hmm," Aeris agreed. "I think..." She took a deep breath; it be difficult to continue to resist and avoid the inevitable. "I think I need to sleep. If you don't mind, I could use a hand getting upstairs?"

"Oh. Sure. Do you want me to carry you or-?"

"Just let me lean on you. I want to get up there under my own power - if possible."

Aeris shuffled out of the booth, gripping the table tight as Barret waited nearby. He was patient as her legs threatened to give out again as she walked across the bar and mounted the stairs. Her heart thudded with each step, each one bringing her to the moment of unconciousness. Would she wake up in the Seventh Heaven tomorrow or back in the Lifestream?

It was only when they reached Cloud's office that she realized she had no night clothes. No matter. Barret waited outside as she shed her bra and flopped onto one of the two camping beds; at least Cloud was not in here tonight. She called out to Barret as sleep dragged her eyes closed despite her feeble resistance against its seductive pull. Aeris barely heard the light flick off or the creak as he lay down on the other camp bed. It was not the comfiest bed, but it was somewhere to lie. With a final worry about whether she would still be here aferwards, Aeris fell asleep.

She awoke with a start the next morning, staring upwards in panic, taking a long while to assure herself she was looking at the ceiling of Cloud's office in the Seventh Heaven. Just like when she fell asleep. Aeris stared hard, memorising every crack, every ridge of the expanse. She lay on her cot for a long while, listening to Barret breath, to the sounds of Edge coming alive outside. She needed to see it. Aeris crossed to the window on still unsteady legs and stared out at the city as people began their lives on a new, brighter day. She was still here.

* * *

Life returned to normal for Avalanche soon after the celebration. The second celebration anyway. Cid found several members of the team still nursing hangovers when he descended on the bar with Shera and to Aeris's delight; Elmyra. Even Reeve managed to put in an appearance as the party dragged on into the evening. Aeris was a little surprised the Turks had not turned up as well. Rufus was apparently busy making the most of his cure to start rallying his meager staff into doing something productive.

Being alive still felt exhausting, though she was getting used to it. Periodic hunger was one of those little details of living that never had any bearing on her in the Lifestream. Now she had to remember to sate the hollow feeling as the clock ticked around to the allotted times. So much still to get used to. Again.

The day after the party, Tifa had to re-open the Seventh Heaven to the rest of Edge; they had celebrated long and they had celebrated hard. Now was the time to get back to the life they had before - at least for her friends. Aeris felt somewhat in limbo. She wanted to be moving, but what beyond that? She stared out of Cloud's office window the next morning. So much had changed and so much stayed the same. Construction of Edge had to continue. Cid was now obligated to both ferry water to outlying areas or if necessary, ferry those still sick with Geostigma back to Midgar. Nanaki had his duties back in Cosmo Canyon; he hitched a ride as he delivered Shera back to Rocket Town, each insisting she visit them soon. Reeve had the WRO to worry about, and discovered to his slight distress that he had promised Yuffie a job sometime during the last evening. Cloud set out on his deliveries; he was a few days behind, but remained confident that the clients might be a little more forgiving given the fundamental change in day to day life. That left a Cetra with a need to find her place in the world, her mother, and Barret whose last holiday was sometime in the distant past.

Elmyra had asked permission to stay on a while longer, something Tifa gave without hesitation. Barret wanted to spent more time with Marlene; it had been too long since his last visit. And Aeris just wanted to feel out what to do now. It was tempting to try and pick up where she had left off so long ago; tempting to become the flower girl again. Edge, like Midgar before it, was not filled with flowers and greenery. But there was the difficulty in beginning. Kadaj's actions had eliminated the majority of her garden back in the church. Sector Five was long abandoned, and it would be another long hike to see if anything still grew around what remained of her old home in Midgar.

One thought lead to another. One of her regrets - one of the many regrets - was that it she had never thought to gather cuttings and samples from around the world. But the outside world had been so new, so exciting, so different. And that was before Sephiroth began to have such an effect on the group. If she did it all over again. Aeris stopped. She could do it all over again. And this time she could do it right; re-travel the world and collect the flowers she found. It felt a little selfish, a little flippant; back from the dead and already plotting to run off from her friends and family to see the world. She wanted to be part of their lives, but they were moved on from her. It would take a while longer for them all to adjust to her presence. And even then; if she really did aspire to becoming a flower girl once more, she would need flowers to sell. She would need to produce a new garden. So she would travel again. And as luck would have it there was one companion she could easily journey with.

"Any objections to me tagging along with you when you go?" Aeris asked Barret a day later.

Barret blinked. "Me? How- Oh. Sorry. Still not quite with you knowing everything."

Aeris sighed. "I don't know everything. A lot, but not everything - and not nearly as much after the church. But; what do you say? I mean, I intend to carry my own weight and not just have you ferry me around, but would you mind if I came with you?" Barret seemed to be mulling it over. "I could stay here. Could. But you've seen those two-" She waved towards Tifa at the bar. "-staring at each other. I might be a little in the way if I'm hanging around. So I'll need to at least leave the building at some point, and if I'm doing that anyway, I want to see the world again."

Barret nodded. "Yeah, okay. You can come. Going to be a few days still, but after that, sure."

* * *

"I wish you weren't going so soon," Tifa said a week later.

"I know," Aeris smiled. "I kinda want to stay too. But I can't just sit still right now; I have to keep moving. I want to see the rest of the world; you know, the parts I missed last time."

Tifa threw her arms around her friend and hugged her. Aeris squeezed back. "Stop by any time, you hear?" Aeris nodded. "And if you let us know where you are, Cloud'll drop by when he's in the area."

"I'd like that. Just hope everywhere has a phone I can use."

"Well, Barret has a cell phone, but…" Tifa looked down at Marlene who was grinning.

"We got you a phone," she said, holding a small box with a pink ribbon wrapped around it out to Aeris.

"Thank you," she said, grinning. "I hadn't even thought about getting a new one."

"You have to reply to messages," Marlene said in an authorative tone. Aeris knelt down as Marlene beckoned. "Tifa likes responses. Cloud's really bad at it," she whispered in a loud voice.

"Okay," Aeris said. "I'll send some replies to you too."

"Yay," Marlene exclaimed.

"This is from the rest of us," Denzel said, still a little shy around the flower girl. He held out a large, flat object wrapped in thick wrapping paper with a ribbon tied around it.

"Thank you Denzel. Can you thank the others for me?"

Denzel nodded, shuffling his feet.

"Well," Aeris said. "I'll be back when I can." The chocobo behind her warked and Barret patted it, soothing the bird. "Sounds like that's my cue to get going." She clambered up onto the cart beside Elmyra, mother and daughter waving as Barret flicked the reins. They stayed off of the main streets; too many noisy and fast moving vehicles there.

"What did they get you?" Elmyra asked after a moment. Aeris smiled as she pulled at the ribbon of the box first and extracted the cell phone. She recognised Tifa's hand on the note inside assuring her that the bill would go to the Seventh Heaven, what her number was and that Avalanche and friend's numbers were already in its memory. Mother and daughter double-checked Tifa's assertion; she had been thorough - there were even entries for the Turks. "Well, if I ever need to ask Elena about anything..." Aeris commented.

The second gift was more mysterious, Elmyra acting a little too casual to have no knowledge of the contents. Inside was a leather bound book entitled 'A Succession of Witches'.

"Oh," Aeris exclaimed. "Oh, wow."

"I thought you might like that," Elmyra smiled.

"What is it?" Barret asked, glancing over.

"It's a story I always wanted to read - a lost classic. My mom - my other mom - really enjoyed it and told me about it. I didn't think it still existed."

"It wasn't easy to find; I looked for that every year on your birthday," Elmyra said. Her voice grew quieter. "Tifa found it, last year when it was… when I thought it was too late. It was going to be your birthday present for this year."

"Like the flowers," Aeris murmured. Elmyra nodded. "Thank you," Aeris said, hugging her mother.

"So what's it about?" Elmyra asked. Aeris raised an eyebrow and her mother grinned. "I never got a chance to look; I was concentrating more on finding it."

"Mom said it was a fantasy story about a group of mercenaries who have to fight against a witch trying to destroy time," Aeris said, opening the book and flipping through a few pages. "I really tried not to find out any more." She twisted around in her seat. "I need to say thank you to Tifa as well."

"Aeris? You have a phone now?" Elmyra nudged her.

"Oh," Aeris exclaimed. She flipped the device open and scrolled through to the Seventh Heaven's entry.

* * *

They arrived in Kalm a few hours later and stayed overnight in Elmyra's house before Barret and Aeris set out the next day. Barret was more patient than Aeris would have expected, prepared to halt the cart every time she caught sight of a new flower as they trundled across the plains. The back of the cart started gaining a variety of pots and other containers as she took more and more cuttings from the flora they found. Aeris talked to Barret, gazed out at the land and read. Her memories of the area were still vivid from the time she first left Midgar. It was an unexpected comfort to see those places again, see how much had changed and how much had stayed the same. The scenery held her attention by day, her book by night. Aeris could never bring herself to sleep as early as Barret did. She spent a few more hours than was sensible beside the fire as she read of the main character's meeting with the mysterious girl at the dance and his first assignment.

Aeris and Barret roamed unhurried across the land. And after a while it became Barret who first spotted the flowers in the fields and pointed them out to her. It was not until they neared the mythril mines that an oddity occurred to her. They often travelled in silence. She was never this quiet with other people; she always talked. But something about being with Barret let her be comfortable in the quiet. She read as he guided the cart, happy to look away from her book to converse at irregular, comfortable intervals as he spotted something of interest.

And he remembered so much; little details about the Chocobo Farm, the race through the sucking marshland to the mythril mines and the tangled path that lead them through and onto the grassy plains beyond. There were constant pulls on her attention, shifting from the book on her lap to the vistas and landscapes all around her. She remembered the first time she saw all this, remembered staring at them, trying to fill her memory with every detail. But their nebulous quarry was ahead of them and always hurried them onwards. Aeris had not minded at the time. After all; there would be every chance to come back here later. Her hand touched her stomach involuntarily at the thought, the memory still vivid even if it was hard to call up the scope of the pain in that eternity between life and death. The movement caught Barret's eye.

"You okay?" he asked.

Aeris sighed. "Yeah. Just remembering some things."

Barret nodded, turning his attention back to the path as the cart rumbled on. "Not the kind of thing you could ever forget. Not the kind of thing I could forget neither," he added in a quieter voice. "Aeris?" he asked after a pause.

"Barret?" she replied.

"I've been... putting off asking you something." He glanced at her for a moment, his eyes flicking forward again. "I'm pretty certain you had something to do with mako energy no longer working."

Aeris grinned. "I had a hand in it, certainly."

"And as a member of Avalanche, I can't thank you enough for doing that. But..." he trailed off. "The oil we found. Is it as terrible as mako energy in the end? I mean, before you asked to come along, I was just going to go right back to setting up some more wells. We were kind of short on ideas and it... well... worked. It's just it was one thing we used in the past and then gave up on. And like we know coal wasn't great but..."

"Do I know anything about it?" Aeris finished. Barret nodded. "It's... not on the whole good, no." He winced at her words. "Very different to mako though," she continued. "Once it's all extracted that's the end of it." She leant forward. "And there's only so much of it. Rely on it too much and we'll be just as stuck as when mako ran out. Well, the Planet won't crumble to dust at least. But oil's pretty terrible for the air, the water, the ground..."

"So we need something else," Barret said.

"We do." She sat up straighter, realization dawning. An idea; a goal. Something for the Planet that would still allow her original plan and her mission. "And if you're willing, we can work on it together," Aeris said.

"I would have thought Cid might be a better idea?" Barret said.

"Perhaps. But there's nothing to say we can't try ourselves. We need new ideas. Maybe old ideas; older than oil, older than coal." She looked at him. "What do you say?"

Barret was silent a moment before nodding. "Can't wreck the Planet with something new after finally being done with mako now can I?"

Aeris grinned. "Indeed not. I don't know what we'll find or where we'll need to go but we can do this." She glanced at him. "As long as you don't mind me tagging along some more?"

"The last few days have been... fun." Barret blinked, seemingly only now realizing how he felt.

"I liked them too." She sighed, but could not stop her lips twitching into a smile. "And so, here we are again; off to save the world one more time."


End file.
